The present invention generally relates to rubber-covered rolls and, more particularly, to a rubber-jacketed end cap construction and a rubber-covered roll having end caps of such construction at the opposite ends thereof.
Rubber-covered rolls are used in a variety of industrial production lines for manufacturing different products. In one production line for the manufacture of carpeting, textile yarns are processed through heat-setting tunnels in saturated steam under pressure. Pairs of opposed rubber-covered rolls are deployed within the tunnels at the opposite ends thereof for conveying the yarns through the tunnels. Thus, the rolls must have a construction designed to withstand not only the high temperatures and pressures of the heat setting tunnels, but also the pressure from an roll.
One prior art rubber-covered roll construction employed heretofore and described in greater detail below is illustrated in FIG. 1. Briefly stated, the roll includes a cylindrical metallic core having a cover or sheath of rubber molded about and covering its exterior cylindrical surface, and end caps having annular metallic cores partially enclosed in rubber jackets. The rubber jackets are molded in cup-shaped configurations on the exterior of the end cap cores. When each rubber-jacketed end cap is attached to one of the opposite ends of the rubber-covered roll core, an interior surface of the rubber jacket makes flush contact only with an outer portion of a corresponding one of the opposite end surfaces of the rubber sheath, while an interior surface of the end cap core makes flush contact with both an inner portion of the one opposite end surface of the rubber sheath and with an annular shoulder surface on the roll core surrounding an end shaft thereon. The contacting rubber jacket interior surface and rubber sheath end surface are adhesively sealed together while screws are applied to the end cap core to securely fasten it to the roll core.
The objective of such construction is to seal the ends of the rubber-covered roll so as to prevent delamination thereof due to the high pressure and temperature environment of the steam tunnel and the pressures applied by an opposing roll. However, in what seem to be sporadic events, the rubber jackets have been found to shear off and separate from the metallic end cap cores. Consequently, it is perceived that improvements are needed in the construction of the end caps so as to overcome the above-described shortcomings of the prior art rubber-covered roll.